---
title: what were the seashells even for, like? — Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Duc… · tree and pragmatics
description: what were the seashells even for, like? Test 7 · ★ of lesson 1264 «Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi tricks the ducks with a song, roasts them, and ignores a crying tree» of the books course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and 
---

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# Test 7 · ★ · Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi t…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
what were the seashells even for, like?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 1 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **What happens:** be · **To what, where:** seashells

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 7 · ★ of lesson 1264 «Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi tricks the ducks with a song, roasts them, and ignores a crying tree» of the books course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/books/1264-pg338-part1/#t7).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:t7:1
# text = what were the seashells even for, like?
1	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	seashells	seashell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	like	like	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the seashells |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 · ← Mova's choice {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were plates for the fat drained from the ducks

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:t7:o1:1
# text = they were plates for the fat drained from the ducks
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	drained	drain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | they | plates |  |  |  | for the fat | tree rules |
| 2 | **drain** | participle |  | plates *not said here* |  |  |  | from the ducks | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Theme from duck=Source |

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were plates for the fat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:t7:o2:1
# text = they were plates for the fat
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | they | plates |  |  |  | for the fat | tree rules |

### Option 3 {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they held the cooked meat

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:t7:o3:1
# text = they held the cooked meat
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	cooked	cook	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | they | the cooked meat |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meat=Theme |
| 2 | **cook** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
they were for the soup

```conllu
# sent_id = question:books:1264-pg338-part1:t7:o4:1
# text = they were for the soup
1	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	for	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	soup	soup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | they |  |  |  |  | for the soup | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Duc…, test 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1264-pg338-part1/t6/)
- next →: [Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Duc…, test 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1264-pg338-part1/t8/)
- ↑ back to [Old Indian Legends, Iktomi and the Ducks, part 1: Iktomi tricks the ducks with a song, roasts them, and ignores a crying tree](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/books/1264-pg338-part1/)